The Weapons of our Warfare

We're in a war with a ruthless invisible enemy who intends to keep men's souls in bondage until they breathe their last breath and drop into hell. We're in a war for the souls of men. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. If we fight the devils with our fists and in fits of frustration flail toward the darkness we will fail. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. But we through propagation of the true gospel, and helping with pro-creation (that is with leading others to Jesus) as God makes of them new creations. And we through preaching. And we through having passion for and compassion towards people. And we especially through impassioned prayer do violence to the enemy daily. We're in a war and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds. The war has been won but the battles rage on daily for our friends and family. We must be praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. In doing so we turn the tide and make clear the paths for our Savior's bride.

Dancing Carl??

All of life
is like a dance.
Me personally,
I don't dance.
I can't dance.
It wouldn't be
a pleasant thing
to watch me dance.
At least I imagine it wouldn't. But all of us dance through life. We twist, and whirl, and dance with the circumstances of life trying to make sense of it all. We all have events both pleasant and painful that cause us to wrestle and twirl through life. But as the wrestling becomes more twirling (figuratively speaking) you begin to dance.

I once attempted to preach a message I entitled 'Dance with your God.' from a Psalm that David wrote. It was Psalm 37 to be exact. Perhaps some of you who read this were there and will remember the title of my message, at the very least, if you don't recall the content. The title of my message came from one of the many possible uses of the Hebrew word 'Chuwl' in Psalm 37:7. The verse says, "Rest in the LORD, and '(chuwl) wait patiently for him': fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass."

I determined from that study forward that I would 'dance' through life, waiting patiently upon God in every circumstance. As I did this, I began to see everything as having purpose and meaning. Rather than seeing only some things as being meaningful and other things as being drab and boring or pointless. I even began to see the painful circumstances in my life as being rich in meaning.

Psalm 37 was penned in the context of very distressing circumstances for David and yet he said, "Fret not,... Trust in the LORD, Delight thyself also in the LORD, Commit thy way unto the LORD, Rest in the LORD, and Chuwl... 'wait patiently for Him'" And as I began doing this, as I do this now as faithfully as possible, I see things in an incredibly different light than I had before.

Shortly after preaching that message I found this copy (the one in the photo) of 'Dancing Carl' in the GoodWill store for a dollar. I couldn't NOT buy it. And it has become one of my favorite short stories of all time. The fictional character, Carl Wenstrom, and his creator, Gary Paulsen, spoke volumes to me in my endeavor to 'dance' with God through the details of life. Carl couldn't tolerate bullies, he stood up for the opressed, loved with class and passion, and saw things around him differently than most folks. His ways (albeit fictional as they were) spoke volumes to me in my endeavor to 'dance' with God through the details of my life. And this commitment has turned my focus from being all about me and my pain, to being all about God, the dance called life, and my life's impact on others.

It's NOT about me,
And it's not about you,
It's all about God's Son and
Jesus is ALL about OTHERS.

He must increase Christian...
And we must decrease. Make it so. Live it!

I Dare You

There is only one way
that I have discovered that
you can really rejoice with them that do rejoice
and to weep with them that weep.

It is to make their burdens your burdens,
and their expectations your expectations.
It is to take their cares and concerns to
The Lord with significant frequency.

It is not enough to pray once and then to be done with it.
To really carry one another's burdens you must remember
what they are, write them down if necessary, and pray over
them often. There must be significant frequency and fervency.

If there is another way
to bear one another's burdens,
to weep and rejoice with others,
I know nothing of it. I couldn't say.

Dare I say I have perfected this? Certainly not.
But this one thing I do, forgetting the things of SELF,
I must decrease, I press toward this mark of being
deeply concerned for others.

Dare I say the love of Christ constraineth me if I am not
in this way so constrained toward others? I dare not!
But I do dare you to be thus constrained towards
others. It'll change your Christian life!!

He must increase!! Do it! I dare you.

He must increase in our hearts
and in our concern for others while
we decrease in the estimation
of our own importance.

He must increase,
WE must all decrease!!

Do it! I dare you.